4 Crucial Renovation Mistakes That You Should Stop Making

Find out whether your renovation project on the right track or not.

Renovation projects are tough and tricky, especially for a first-timer. It’s easy to make mistakes. Sometimes, the errors cost too much to fix. To help everyone out, we enumerated the four most common renovation mistakes. We also included tips on how to fix them.

Take all these professional advice by heart, and you will have a safe and sound renovation:

Mistake 1: Tackling too much work at once.

Renovators, regardless if it’s their first time or not, make this mistake. Here, the renovation project goes bigger than planned because of the homeowner’s requests. It already happened to you if you have said something similar to: “While we’re at it, we might as well do this…”Changing the initial renovation plans amidst the construction will lead to a project in disarray. It ruins the schedule, drives construction costs up, and stresses everyone involved. When everything is a mess, you feel down and frustrated.

Our pragmatic solution to this:

Focus on the current scope of works. Stick to your original goal so your initial plan and budget will transpire. Your architect and designer usually tell you if there’s a need to fix the other parts of the house anyway.

Mistake 2: Proceeding to DIY Renovations without enough building experience.

We understand that you want to save money on your renovation project. But, don’t compromise your property by doing all the work alone, especially with no building experience.

Renovations are expensive. If you’re going to pursue one, put your money on the sure way to success.

Our recommended solution to this:

Before you tackle your renovation project, know what you can and can’t do. Understand that following an online tutorial and watching YouTube guides will only make you a handyman. It prepares you to do the weekend projects like painting, basic carpentry, putting up wallpaper, etc.

We expect homeowners with zero building experience to work with qualified professionals. They are skilled and trained, meaning they won’t do guesswork that might result in future house problems.

Mistake 3: Going for the lowest cost estimate.

Once the quotes come in, it can be tempting to go with the cheapest one, thinking that you can save money. It isn’t true.

Remember, the lowest offer isn’t always the best offer. It’s cheap for a reason. Perhaps they have ‘hidden fees’ which will surprise you tomorrow.

Our say here is:

Understand the contents of each quote to assess the full offer of the builders. Then, look at the quality of their work based on their websites. You can also ask your architect/designer’s option before you make this crucial decision.

Mistake 4: Not having a contingency plan and budget.

There are cases when renovations don’t go according to plan. Nobody wants to encounter unanticipated problems amidst construction, but it happens to some people. Don’t let this stop you.

Our only solution to this:

Condition your mind. We always remind our clients to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. By that, we mean they should have a contingency budget. We ask them to leave around 10-15% of the total budget to fund unexpected costs. Similarly, they should give the contractor at least two weeks to finish the job in case of a delay.